David Kahn Reflects on Pre-Draft Workouts

Submitted by mremme on Fri, 2012-06-01 15:22

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What were your impressions of the workouts?

I thought there were a lot of players who clearly will be drafted, probably most in the second round, as opposed to the first round. They're very competitive, and I thought, as many other GMs said to me, it was a very productive two days, because you can see so many people over a quick period of time.

On GMs talking trades

It starts a little bit right now, and I don't think it's necessarily because of this as much as the lottery allowed the order to be set.

You're sitting there, one of those picks that could be moved--I mean, just where it's at and the nature and sort of the history of the draft and that first-round pick. What do you think the odds are and what's your feel?

No idea. I mean, it's just so early, and I can't put a number or, as I said yesterday, the fact that our team is young has to be factored into any decision you make. But we're just starting. It's four weeks away still.

Does that mean you'd like to get older?

It means we'd like to get better.

On the importance of these workouts to players like Hummel who've been injured

No question about it. All of his workouts, whether they're individual or in a group setting like this will be important to him. And I think also, the fact that people might question his athleticism, it'll be an opportunity for him to show people that he can do it. I thought he played very well.

On the importance of getting to know the players

Well we were fortunate, we interviewed all of them. Our staff did, I didn't sit in on all the interviews. And I think that's a very valuable piece of this too, to see how somebody presents themself, and how thoughtful that person is.

On addressing perimeter scoring and whether it's a priority

Well, or it's addressed through free-agency or it's addressed through trades. But there's no question I think interior defense, ball-handling, shooting, scoring, all those things are things we can get better at.

On how the players handle themselves

Well I think the system both here and in Chicago and other place now is so, it's repeated, so it happens so frequently. I think the agents are the ones who are pretty good about keeping their clients focused and prepared, making certain that when they come into a room with a bunch of people they don't know that they know how to present themselves. I'm always very impressed; most of the kids really do know how to present themselves and are good in an interview setting.

Are there a lot of agents here now?

Typically, they're not here. There'll be a lot of them next week in Chicago, because higher-profile players are there.

Are you able to draw anything from the Lynx success?

Not really. And I don't mean that dismissively -- that's the last thing I would like to say. But, one thing that just, you know, just sort of a big-picture thing is I know a couple of years ago they had some devastating injuries, and I thought they had a really good team a couple years ago, and it didn't end well for them either, and then the next year they were champions. And by no means am I suggesting that that'll be repeated. But, not really.